Tri-City Herald
August 12, 2003

Contractor settles suit over workers reportedly sickened at chemical incinerator

This story was published Tuesday, August 12th, 2003

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A contractor has settled a lawsuit by construction workers who say they became sick while building a chemical weapons incinerator at an Army storage depot, the workers' attorney said Tuesday.

The Umatilla Chemical Depot, near Hermiston in northeastern Oregon's high desert, stores nearly 4,000 tons of Cold War era rockets, bombs and missiles containing chemical weapons in 89 bunkers.

The Army, the remaining defendant, did not settle. A trial is to begin Sept. 29 in Portland federal court, said James McCandlish, the plaintiffs' attorney.

Terms are confidential, but Army contractor Raytheon Company and eight related companies - all entities of Raytheon and Washington Group - did not admit wrongdoing, McCandlish said.

Rick Kelley, spokesman for Washington Demilitarization Co., would not comment. Washington Group bought the engineering and construction division of Raytheon.

The Army hopes to begin incineration by the end of the year, said Jim Hackett, spokesman for the depot.

The state Environmental Quality Commission must sign off before the Army can begin incineration, said Dennis Murphy of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

On Sept. 15, 1999, 34 construction workers at the site suddenly reported feeling ill. Many complained of severe shortness of breath and dizziness, while others vomited and had coughing fits.

Many say they still suffer from ailments including asthma, headaches, poor circulation, paranoia and depression. They say they believe they were poisoned by sarin, a nerve gas, that leaked from one of the depot's bunkers.

The bunkers are about 230 yards from the construction site.

They allege the Army covered up the leak and Raytheon didn't protect them from it.

An investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration could not determine the cause of the workers' symptoms.